(Newser)
–
One of the bigger races on Tuesday night's ballot has gone Republicans' way: Matt Bevin will be Kentucky's next governor, reports the AP. Bevin defeated Democratic State Attorney General Jack Conway, who had been leading in the polls, and will become only the second Republican governor in four decades. The victory earned the verb "shocks" in the headline at Kentucky.com, which notes that Bevin "never led until the end, and that's when it counted."

Bevin is a businessman who unsuccessfully challenged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from the right in a Republican primary last year, notes Politico. In this race, he capitalized on the unpopularity of President Obama in the state, notes Kentucky.com, and he made a point to make his defense of county clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage certificates to gay couples, a prominent issue. (Click for some other key contests still to be decided.)

Kentucky, one of the two southern high-poverty states that has visibly benefited from Obamacare — the other being Arkansas — just elected a governor who pledged to end Obamacare and shut down the state health insurance exchange. Getting health care is scary. Apparently the election also was decided by issues such as “school choice,” meaning the dismantling of the public school system, to be replaced by corporate for-profit McSchools; against the federal government and its dastardly safety and environmental regulations that cut into coal mining profits; against secularism that demands public employees actually abide by the law; and against President Obama and his nefarious blackness. In other words, Kentuckians just shot themselves in the foot, big time. Good luck, you poor fool wusses.

Veteran.Joe

Nov 4, 2015 6:40 PM CST

Another republicon nutball ready to screw things up for everyone.

andthatsthetruth

Nov 4, 2015 2:19 PM CST

Interesting not ONE WORD about this sea change in Kentucky on Newser! First woman of color elected to state wide office EVER!!! In a Democrat state but it happened as a REPUBLICAN!!! Take THAT you racist Dems!! A conservative black-American Republican woman is the newly elected Lieutenant Gov. of Kentucky!! Hey liberals. We're conservative, we're black and MILLIONS of white folks have got our back!! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/04/meet-jenean-hampton-the-first-black-person-to-be-elected-to-statewide-office-in-kentucky/